Thursday, September 8, 2016

Guns and phones don't mix

You know the old joke about the Irishman who burnt his ear? The phone rang whilst he was ironing.

An Ohio man has gone one better . . .

News report:

Washington Post 3 September 2016

Dental patient was high on nitrous oxide when he accidentally shot himself, police say

It was a routine dental appointment, until James White went to reach for his cellphone. Instead of grabbing his phone, the 72-year-old from New Carlisle, Ohio — who was under the influence of nitrous oxide — grabbed something else: his pistol. Still sitting in the dental chair, the woozy patient fired off a round that struck his hand and grazed the left side of his stomach, according to the Springfield News-Sun. He would later tell police that he thought the phone was ringing before he decided to answer it, the paper reported.

White was transported to a hospital, but no one else was injured by the errant round Wednesday, according to NBC affiliate WCMH. During a 911 recording broadcast by the station, an employee at New Carlisle Dental Group can be heard saying, “We have a patient here who accidentally shot himself with a gun.” The surprised dispatcher’s response: “Oh!”

White has a concealed-carry permit, and the dentist’s office does not have signs asking gun owners to keep firearms out of the facility, WCMH reported. But he could be charged with using a weapon while intoxicated, the News-Sun reported. Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly told the paper that formal charges have not been filed “and the case will go before the prosecutor.”

For some observers, White’s behavior was more stupid than criminal. “If you’re going to be put under nitrous, then you think twice about taking your gun into the dental office,” a neighbor who lives near dentist office, but was not identified, told the station.

He should have been more like the Buddhist monk who went to the dentist and refused to take Novocain. He wanted to transcend dental medication.

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It’s not the first time that this has happened, nor the worst . . .

Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December 1992 in Newton, North Carolina when, awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone beside his bed. Half asleep, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith & Wesson .38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear.